29.04.05
I am going to Washington D.C. next weekend. Yee ha! It's for work but I've got a day and a half to look around. If you've been there and you know what I like by now, what should I do? I'll be on my own and don't feel much like trailing round museums. Where's a good place to hang out? Is there anything I shouldn't miss that won't be in a guide book?

26.04.05Have you ever seen Dundee? It's a funny sort of place. The fourth largest city in Scotland, but you could quite easily live your whole life without knowing it's there. Everyone has such a terrible downer on the place, when really it's quite nice. There's a good art gallery, nice old buildings, Fisher & Donaldson, the only city population of red squirrels in the UK, and the silvery Tay. And then there's Forte's Cafe, with its lovely wooden booths and formica tables. These menus (don't know what to call them) are fast becoming a design classic. This one shows some interesting regional variation in ice cream dishes. What's a slider? What's a squasher? Translations please. Also a quality sweet counter, where you can get a quarter of soor plooms or whatever takes your fancy. Further along the same street, the now defunct Land o' Cakes. Shame it didn't have Forte's staying power.

20.04.05I've been invited to join some great Flickr groups lately. This is from Roadmap Art of the Road, a collection of the art and illustration you find on old roadmaps. This is a great idea (now we need one for travel brochures, or is there one already?). I love how specific these groups are. Not the map itself, but the pictures that accompany it. The group is overseen by Mike of I'll take your photo and Phototaken who has a great eye - this gas station is a beauty, very Ed Ruscha. Snapatorium has posted some real crackers. It's only a few days old and look at all the good stuff already. I can only dig up one map so far, from the 1958 World's Fair with a vibrant Esso scene on one side and the Atomium on the other, but now there's a good excuse to look for more. Pile in everybody and let's get motoring.

18.04.05Yowzah, Yowzah, Yowzah!

things is back, albeit briefly, with enough to keep you going for months.